Demand for car club surges to accommodate hybrid working

Many businesses are adding automated on-street car rental to their travel policies in response to growing demand for business travel as employees return to work, according to Enterprise.
 
The surge in interest is down to workers needing greater mobility in more disparate hybrid or home working locations, and often on a more ad hoc basis. The result is that on-street car clubs are increasingly a mainstream option for UK businesses.
 
To help service this increasingly regionalised demand, Enterprise has integrated in-branch technology that geolocates vehicles in real time and provides every branch with visibility of both daily rental and car club availability across the fleet.
 
This means in-branch employees can advise business customers when a car club vehicle is the most suitable choice for a business trip based on their location – especially for last-minute bookings.
 
Businesses using Enterprise’s ETD booking and compliance platform will also be able to ‘default’ certain employees to a local car club vehicle when that is the closest, most convenient and most sustainable option.

Enterprise’s 1,400+ on-street vehicles, available 24/7 in towns and cities around the UK, are particularly appropriate for last-minute rentals, out-of-hours hire and employees at home who are remote or hybrid working. Vehicles based at stations and other transport hubs provide valuable onward multi-modal travel options for employees travelling by train.
 
Enterprise’s flexible car club technology means employees can book personal trips on the Enterprise Car Club app outside working hours. There is no fee for business membership of the programme, and users only pay when they are renting a vehicle.
 
Paul McCorkell, Director of Business Rental UK & Ireland at Enterprise, commented: “Automated rental through an on-street car club is becoming an important form of vehicle hire, especially for businesses transitioning the workplace to a hybrid working model. It means that we can deliver mobility to employees in even more locations and out of hours, through what might have previously been seen as solely a residential solution.
 
“Rental on demand brings several benefits. It enables customers to access a much wider range and number of cars and vans in their local area. It reduces collection and delivery charges because vehicles are close to where the employee lives or works, and lowers their carbon footprint.
 
“And because many of our car club vehicles are low- or zero-emission plug-in electric vehicles, companies can start to introduce employees to EVs quickly and conveniently, getting them accustomed to what will soon be the future of motoring.”